Hustle off

Hustle culture. It's everywhere. I've had to put Gary Vee on mute. It's a strange phenomenon that people with bare faced dreams have taken to heart. I get it. We all need a little motivation from time to time. It's good and healthy to get a kick up the dierriere. One potent reminder I saw was from Huit Denim. They posted the idea that time = currency. It's a fixed credit that lands in everyone's bank account every day. In numbers it's 86,400 seconds. No one can increase their daily credit. It can decrease, and it most certainly can be frittered away. I think for creative people; digesting that idea is sobering. There's a lot, that's hard to articulate in the space of a post here. But there's a big tension between creatives talking about what they love and want they to do Vs bunkering down and just doing the work. There's a lot of wonderfully talented people that struggle to find the inspiration to make their best work, when actually the harder reality is just consistently showing up, doing the work that's average to push through to better stuff over time. Don't be that creative person that talks more about their projects, rather than shows what they actually did 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️.

On the flip side. Don't get guilted, pressured or wound up over time and narrate the quality of your work as you do it. There's hours I can spend writing stuff that I think is elementary. I come back the next day and re-draft (read as start over) and then booooya! I got me thinking down for a public reveal. And sometimes it's not 💯. But it's done and worth showing anyway.

Being told we need to go at speed and hustle our way into opportunities can blindside us to beauty, wonder and space to reflect. Which are all essential in making deeper and more powerful work.

I've asked myself where is hustle culture coming from? Is it a place of freedom, courage and trust? Do economies of scale and leverage underpin this push? Are we trying to squeeze the maximum out of everything? Recognise the difference between understanding the algorithm and being a slave to it? And is it worth distinguishing between when to go full on Vs creating lifestyles that promote this as a baseline.

I think in 2020 I'll be getting the work done. Giving myself plenty of space to think. And going a little less harder on myself. I want to go the distance and be proud of what I contribute.